Bomshell 60 Minutes: Bush Planed to Bomb Iraq Before Afghanistan!

CBS is running teasers for a 60 Minutes that looks to be brimming with zest, so those wily liberals Martha's Vinyard Way will, no doubt, be hoisting some rather indifferent red wines to their pagan gods come Memorial Day. Let the pounding begin: the liberals are mad as hell and they are not going to take it anymore. Apparently, one Richard Clarke, who has advised four presidents (and was Bill Clinton's counter-terror point man in the National Security Council), throws light upon the current administration's reaction to terrorism in his new book, "Against All Enemies."

Oh, It's on like Gray Poupon! (rubs hands together)

The 60 Minutes website teaser reads:

"Former White House terrorism advisor Richard Clarke tells Correspondent Lesley Stahl that on Sept. 11, 2001, and the day after - when it was clear al Qaeda had carried out the terrorist attacks - the Bush administration was considering bombing Iraq in retaliation.

" ... Clarke was surprised that the attention of administration officials was turning toward Iraq when he expected the focus to be on al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

"'They were talking about Iraq on 9/11. They were talking about it on 9/12,' says Clarke.

"The top counter-terrorism advisor, Clarke was briefing the highest government officials, including President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

"'Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq ... We all said, but no, no. Al Qaeda is in Afghanistan, recounts Clarke, and Rumsfeld said, There aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq. I said, Well, there are lots of good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with [the September 11 attacks].'"

(The Corsair takes a sip of The Cutty Sark) Ahhh ... The pause that refreshes.

Anyhoo: The CBS site continues:

"Clarke goes on to explain what he believes was the reason for the focus on Iraq.

"'I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection [between Iraq and al Qaeda], but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there, I was sitting there, saying, We've looked at this issue for years. For years we've looked and there's just no connection, says Clarke.

"Clarke also tells Stahl that the president isn't doing the best job fighting terrorism.

�'Frankly, I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that he�s done such great things about terrorism,' says Clarke in Sunday's interview. 'He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. Maybe. We�ll never know."

Maybe; but here's what we do know: one, Clarke is hawking a book, and, like Paul O'Neill before him, he will be savaged by the Right. Two, Clarke is damaged goods: he bet the farm on cyberterrorism being the next frontier, and he lost big time. His job and his credibility were burned in the intelligence community. This book makes him look vengeful. Three, they will try to paint Leslie Stahl, a fucking excellent journalist, as obsessed with getting Bush.

Mitigating factors: One, this will feed into the New York Left Media nexus. Howard Stern has been beating at Bush mightily. Expect Stern to use the 60 Minutes as an extended discussion on corruptions in the Bush Administration. Expect the New York Times editorial board and op ed columnists to follow suit. And expect Kerry and some congressmen -- perhaps even, hmmmmmm John McCain -- to get involved, making the President look bad. Hmmm: John McCain may end up being the big winner of this 60 Minutes drop off into Spring. And the race for the President of the last standing superpower has barely begun!

Finally, concerning CBS, a fascinating little chestnut if you are a media geek like me has been revealed. Apparently Eisnehower asked then CBS President Frank Stanton to run a a federal communications agency in the event that a Soviet military attack killed major US officials. This was in the dark days of the Cold War when the Soviets had successfully launched Sputnik, e4ffectively beating America into space, and savaging national morale. Dark Days indeed:

"A few weeks after the Soviets launched the first manmade satellite in 1957, shattering America's sense of security, CBS President Frank Stanton was summoned to the White House to see President Eisenhower.

"Stanton knew his friend was agonizing over how to respond to Sputnik and the terrorizing thought that permeated America: Had the Soviets gained a huge first-strike advantage in the nuclear arms race?

"But Stanton learned Eisenhower also was wrestling with how best to ensure the U.S. government could function if a Soviet attack wiped out many American leaders.

"Stanton, who had no experience or ambitions in government, was taken aback when the president asked if he would be willing to oversee a federal communications agency after such an attack.

"'I was surprised and startled by the breadth of the assignment,' said the 96-year-old Stanton, who lives in Boston.

"Nervous about the awesome task of keeping the nation's telephone, radio and television systems operating after an attack, Stanton said he nevertheless 'agreed to do my chore.'"

Crazy. CBS and the Preidency.